


am I coming out of left field?

by barelyprolific



Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: 5+1, Angst, Canon Relationships, Denial of Feelings, Falling In Love, Fluff, M/M, and that is not what it ended up being at all, everyone knows but them, oblivious eddie, obvious Buck, so I'm not really sure how to tag this, what am i even doing?, y'know this was supposed to be accidental dating
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-01
Updated: 2019-01-01
Packaged: 2019-10-02 00:01:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,661
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17253839
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/barelyprolific/pseuds/barelyprolific
Summary: 5 times it was obvious toliterally everyonethat Buck and Eddie are in love, and the one(first)time Eddie actually admits it.





	am I coming out of left field?

**Author's Note:**

> Ring in the New Year!!!! With some Buddie fic that was supposed to be accidental dating and turned into... this. IDK. I didn't even include the food thing that started it ALL I might have to write another one just about that. A N Y W A Y .  
> Dedicated to the discord crew.

**i.**

 

Allie is...cute. Smart. Funny. Those are the words Buck uses to describe her, and if she has that alone to go on, Maddie can get why Buck thinks dating her is a smart choice. Cute, smart, funny… All words that describe Chimney, too. The thing is, though, that Maddie doesn’t talk about Chimney like that. Maddie knows how she sounds when she talks about Chim, and it is nothing like the almost perfunctory way Buck talks about Allie.

“Maybe I should meet her,” she says, smiling a little, when it’s been a couple of weeks of _cute, smart,_ _funny_ after every date. Buck still hasn’t slept over, which Maddie finds suspect.

Chimney agrees, when she brings it up, and then asks to change the subject.

“Yeah, you know, maybe everyone should.” Maddie doesn’t know what Buck is thinking when he says that, but she smiles encouragingly. Later, when he shows up with Allie at Christopher’s birthday party, Maddie thinks maybe she should have asked her idiot brother what he’d meant.

The party is happening at a park, because the guest list is...huge. Maddie had added her gift to a pile taller than herself, and she only knows the people from the fire station, and Athena. Being out in the open like that is a vulnerability Maddie still has a hard time allowing herself. The whole thing is a little awkward, so she’s a little clingy--to both her drink, and people she knows.

She maybe hugs Buck a little too tightly when he shows up. “You brought your girlfriend?” she hisses in his ear. He looks confused when he pulls back, shrugs.

“Eddie’s already met her,” he tells her, like _that’s_ the point.

“Technically, Eddie’s the one who saved me,” Allie interjects, smiling at Buck, who rolls his eyes as though this is an old joke, lips twitching.

“Well, Eddie is an amazing firefighter,” is all her brother says, no argument, just a simple shrug that turns into a stiff back for just a moment when a hand comes down on one of them.

“Thanks, Buck,” Eddie says, appearing at Buck’s side, arm draped over his shoulders as he gives the one he clapped a squeeze. Buck relaxes instantly. “It’s always nice to hear what you really think about me.”

Buck flushes, shoving Eddie’s arm off and glaring at him without heat, crossing his arms over his chest. “Haha. Allie, you remember this smug dork?”

“I do.” Allie, Maddie realizes quickly, is bold, because she goes right in for a hug, pulls back with a grin. “Nice to see my hero again.”

“Uh, yeah.” Eddie’s gone a little tense, but he still grins. “So Buck wasn’t messing with me when he said you two were seeing each other. It’s good to see you.”

 _Bullshit_ , Maddie thinks, and wonders where Eddie’s _wife_ is. Allie, however, smiles back at him.

“Yeah, you too.”

Eddie turns back to Buck. “Hey, I could use a hand on the grill?”

Her brother’s grin is so brilliant that Maddie wants to cover Allie’s eyes so she isn’t blinded. “Yeah, sure.” Buck blinks, turns to Allie. “You’ll be fine with Maddie, right?”

Without missing a beat, Allie nods, pats Buck exactly once on his upper arm. Out of the corner of her eye, Maddie notices Eddie’s shoulders relaxing slightly. “Go have fun.”

Buck doesn’t pause to ask again, swept away by Eddie and up into some conversation that involves a lot of hand gestures on both of their parts. Allie never really stood a chance, and Maddie turns to explain, because she feels like she should.

Except that Allie is shaking her head, smiling slightly. “So that’s a thing.”

“Tell me about it,” Maddie’s eyes are wide, and she laughs a little.

“I mean, I picked up on something during the earthquake, but Buck was still interested in going out. And then our first date, he spends the entire time talking about Eddie and his son.”

“He didn’t.” Allie nods, lips pressed together to hold back a laugh, and Maddie groans, pinching the bridge of her nose and shaking her head. “Oh, Buck…” She looks at Allie again appraisingly. “Well, I guess that explains why he hasn’t spent the night yet.”

Allie shrugs. “I have some dignity. I’m trying to find a way to give him the ‘just friends’ talk. Because I do want to be friends. Buck is awesome.”

“He is,” Maddie says fondly, eyes finding where her brother was laying hot dogs on one of the park grills, shoulder to shoulder with Eddie, Christopher hovering nearby and apparently chattering away. “You should do it after the party. He’ll be in a good mood.”

“Yeah,” Allie agrees with a hum, gaze following Maddie’s. “That’ll probably be for the best.”

  
**ii.**

 

Hen notices the slump of Buck’s shoulders when he trudges up the stairs the morning after Christopher’s birthday party, looking a little less sharp than usual. There’s a layer of stubble on his jaw and a bleariness to his eyes that indicate he slept poorly and woke up late.

Her mouth opens for some friendly ribbing--just enough to poke the actual cause for Buck’s disarray into spilling out--but Eddie zeroes in on him first. He whistles, low, and pushes off from where he’s been leaning, model casual, against a counter.

“You look like you got no sleep.” He’s over by the coffee pot, pulling Buck’s favorite mug out of the dish drainer, filling it up, while Buck shuffles to the couch. Hen closes her mouth, settles back to observe, feet up on the dining room table because Cap isn’t there to see her.

“Allie dumped me on the way home yesterday.” Buck’s voice is low, rough. Eddie ducks his head, so Hen only sees the beginning of the complicated thing his face does. Buck misses it entirely, dragging a hand over his face. “And the kicker is, she accused me of having feelings for someone else. I am completely over Abby, but she doesn’t believe me.”

Eddie looks up again, his eyes dark. Hen waits, but he doesn’t speak. Instead, he picks up Buck’s coffee, brings it over. Hands it to Buck with one hand, the other sliding down his back, settling just above the waistband of his jeans. Hen can’t see it anymore, but from the way his arm muscles are moving, he’s stroking his thumb wherever it is. When Buck’s hands curl around the mug, Eddie’s other one drops to Buck’s knee.

“She just wasn’t the one. You’ll find them, Buck. You have so much love to give, you just need to find the right person.”

Buck looks up from staring into the coffee cup, and Hen can see his chest hitch slightly as he realizes how close his face is to Eddie’s. Hell, _her_ breath catches, and her heart even picks up a little when she sees Buck’s face twitch.

Hen has this wild, irrational moment where she thinks, _Not here._

She drops her boots with a thud to the floor. Eddie jerks back, clears his throat. Pats Buck’s shoulder and stands. Buck watches him, quieter than Hen has ever seen him without his throat being obstructed in some way. “Enjoy your coffee.”

“...Thanks, Eddie.” Buck says the words to his retreating back, and Hen thinks, her heart sinking slightly, that she might have underestimated Evan Buckley.   

 

**iii.**

 

“Buck, I need a favor.”

“Absolutely.”

Eddie pauses, eyebrows twitching. “I haven’t told you what it is.”

“Well, short of hiding a body, I got your back.” Buck pauses, considers. “And I guess it’d probably depend on the body.”

“No talking about willingness to commit felonies in the firehouse,” Bobby says mildly, glancing up from the book he’s half-reading. He catches Chim’s eye, although neither man says anything else.

“Right.” Eddie clears his throat, slightly thrown off. Buck smirks, and it takes him a minute to refocus. “Anyway. This favor… You have next Tuesday off?”

“I do…” Buck says slowly. “Is this about Christopher’s Career Day? Because I already promised Chris I’d do it, dude. Don’t worry about it.” He shrugs. “He’s been talking about it for weeks, and when he told me you had to work, I figured, hell, I do the same job.”

Eddie’s mouth is hanging open. So is Bobby’s. The Cap hurriedly looks back down at his book, wondering at the exchange. He’s never heard Buck commit to something extra like that so easily, and he’s not even sleeping with Eddie.

As far as Bobby knows, anyway. Not that he needs to know. Although if they were in a relationship, there would be forms to fill out. He doesn’t think now is the right time to bring that up, though.

“You’re a lifesaver,” Eddie says, his voice breaking slightly. Bobby doesn’t have to look to know that Buck is probably bright red. His own ears are burning, anyway.

“Hey, it’s Christopher. You know I’d do anything for that kid.” The words _for you_ are unspoken, but loud enough even the Cap hears them.

With an awkward chuckle that’s more a huff of air, Eddie pulls Buck in for an equally uncomfortable hug. Bobby can hear the sound of hands patting backs. “I owe you.”

“You don’t.”

Bobby turns the page of his book, and absolutely does not look.

 

Buck steps up to the office counter and pulls out his wallet for his license. “I’m here for Career Day.”

The receptionist looks him over, arches one perfectly tweezed brow. “I never would have guessed.”

Buck flushes, shrugs. Coming in uniform had seemed like a good idea. He clears his throat. “I’m here for Christopher Diaz--”

The receptionist waves away his license. “I’ve seen you before,” she says, and slides him a printed name tag.

**MR. DIAZ**

“Uh…”

“Problem?” She looks up at Buck again, seems a little more annoyed this time. Buck looks down at the name tag again.

“No.” Buck shakes his head, peels the back off and sticks it on. “Not at all."

 

Athena doesn’t do breakfast at the firehouse very often. She has the morning off, however, and with her children at school and her best friend and fiancé both at Station 118, she finds herself there as well.

Bobby is in the kitchen, chatting easily with Chimney, who keeps trying to steal bits of potato, while she and Hen gossip on the couch. Athena’s head is thrown back, laughing at some joke she can’t even remember, when Buck arrives.

Athena’s barely noticed Eddie, sitting at the table and flipping through a magazine, but as soon as Buck appears, he’s almost impossible to miss. Straightening up, he grins widely. “Hey, there he is.”

Buck glances up, along with everyone else in the area, but what’s interesting is the way every person seems to fall quiet. Bobby and Chimney exchange a glance, and even Hen straightens a little. It’s curious, but Athena doesn’t react.

Observation sometimes yields the best results. Buck seems a little wary, his smile not quite reaching his eyes. “Hey, Eddie.”

“Christopher’s step-dad was a big hit at Career Day,” Eddie says, laughing a little. He leans back in his chair, seems to be more amused than anything else.

Buck, on the other hand, flushes. “I never said I was his step-dad,” he says, almost defensively, arms crossing over his chest. A barrier. Protective. Out of the corner of her eye, Athena sees Hen’s lips press together. It isn’t a laugh she’s holding back. “They’d already made up the name tag, and just going with it seemed easier than explaining to everyone, over and over.”

“Buck, relax,” Eddie is still grinning as he stands, taking his coffee cup with him over to the sink, rinsing it out and putting it in the drainer. “I’m kidding. Although you were pretty popular. Christopher kept saying your talk was the best.”

Buck’s shoulders relax slightly. He moves towards the couch, opts for a chair instead, with distance from Eddie that’s obvious to anyone watching.

At this point, everyone is.

“Well, I’m glad he liked having me there. I had a good time.”

“And hey. As long as it doesn’t weird out Shannon, you can play parent for Christopher any time.”

Athena sucks in a quiet breath, feels Hen tense next to her. She hadn’t been expecting Eddie to say that.

She wonders, suddenly, if Michael had ever flirted with a man like this while they were married. Before he told her. Her eyes are sharp on Buck as the color seems to drain from his face.

“Yeah, of course,” he says, careful. “You know I don’t mind helping out. As long as it doesn’t cause you problems with your wife.”

Athena can admit she gets a newfound respect for Buck in that moment. To herself, anyway.

Eddie looks up, quick, but Buck is already turning away to say something to Hen. He catches Athena’s eye instead, jerks his gaze away after barely a second. Athena lets her eyes wander and ends up meeting Bobby’s.

His brows go up, and her smile, in response, is tight. Maybe it’s time she has a conversation with Eddie’s wife.

 

**iv.**

 

The house collapses with Buck still inside of it. Everyone else has been removed from the building, but the little girl had been crying for the family cat.

Buck’s always been a sucker for kids. Bobby hadn’t even realized what he was doing until he was already inside, a shaky Chim yelling after him that the structure had too much damage. Cats have nine lives. Buck does not.

They dig him out, and he’s breathing, but barely. Although he’s, miraculously, not burned very badly, his legs are broken and his ribs have punctured a lung. Bobby sits with him in the ambulance, and his clearest thought, oddly enough, is that he’s _glad Eddie had the day off._

Maddie meets them at the hospital. She’s crying, and while she doesn’t seek comfort from Bobby, she collapses into Chimney’s arms as soon as the scene has cleared and he can get there.

The story hits the news. Taylor Kelly gets hold of it, because that’s just how it’s gotta go, Bobby supposes. She’s been hellbent on plastering the 118 all over the news since the first time their paths crossed, and Bobby has his suspicions that part of the reason she latches on to this story is her personal feelings over whatever went down with Buck.

In all the chaos, nobody thinks to call Eddie.

One by one as their shifts end, the crew trickles into the hospital. Karen brings food, a frozen lasagna she’s heated up and a loaf of garlic bread, and they eat it in the hospital waiting room.

The nurse comes to tell them, at one point, that visiting hours are over, but one look from Athena shuts him up.

Bobby’s phone starts ringing, Eddie’s name on the screen. Bobby leaves the waiting room, slips out into a parking lot. “Hello?”

“Buck’s hurt?” Eddie’s voice breaks. “I just saw the news.”

“We’re all at the hospital.” Bobby pauses. “You should come down. Maybe bring Christopher.”

It’s late, and Bobby expects Eddie to say no, but instead the line is silent for so long Bobby thinks he might have hung up. Then he says, voice gruff, “I’m on my way,” and Bobby wonders why he ever thought Eddie wouldn't come to Buck's side.

Having a group of people in uniform hanging out in the OR waiting room seems to be intimidating for some of the staff. That’s probably why even though it’s past midnight, the nurse stills comes to tell them when Buck is out of surgery. That they can see him.

Maddie is untangling herself from Chimney to go in when Eddie appears, breathless. Christopher isn’t with him.

“How is he? How’s Buck?”

Maddie pauses. “I’m just about to go in to see him. Want to come with me?”

Eddie doesn’t even hesitate before he’s nodding, even though he’s just arrived, and everyone else there has been for hours. Waiting.

Bobby watches Maddie and Eddie be led away, turns back to his crew.

“I think we can all head home.”  He's with the people he loves the most.

 

**v.**

 

Shannon promised Eddie she would bring Christopher by the hospital after he got out of school, so despite the hassle to her schedule, she finds herself walking down the hospital corridors, slow enough that Christopher can walk with her.

“Buck’s going to be fine,” she reassures her son for what feels like the millionth time. “Dad’s been here with him practically the whole time, remember? He says Buck is even sitting up now.” They had agreed, without really talking about it, that Christopher shouldn’t see his friend before Buck had recovered at least that much. Christopher would only get upset, and that’s unnecessary.

“He was really hurt,” Christopher reminds her, and her hands grip the teddy bear they stopped to get in the gift shop a little more tightly.

“I know, kiddo.” Shannon sighs. She is very aware of how hurt Buck is. Between Eddie’s shifts at the station and his time at the hospital with Buck, she hasn’t seen her husband in almost two weeks.

The conversation she needs to have with him is going to hurt, but she’s hoping it will go smoothly.

When they reach the hospital room, it’s to find Eddie and Buck watching some basketball game on the screen. Eddie’s leaning in to Buck, saying something that makes the other man’s eyes light up, makes him chuckle until a pained expression crosses his face.

Shannon swallows the lump in her throat.

“Buck! Daddy!” Christopher’s outburst ruins Shannon’s opportunity to spy, as both men turn towards the door to the room.

The smile that spreads over Buck’s face, the way he opens his arms for Christopher in greeting... Shannon knows she’s doing the right thing. She watches Buck embrace her son, then allows her gaze to slide to Eddie.

The look on his face as he watches Buck and Christopher twists her heart. She sets the bear on the end of the bed.

“Hey, Eddie,” she murmurs, just loud enough to get his attention. Buck doesn’t seem to hear her, or is deliberately ignoring her, as he helps Christopher climb up next to him. “Can we talk?”

The way Eddie holds himself as they step out into the hall makes it clear he expects a fight. “Look, I’m sorry I haven’t been home, but Buck--”

“Needed you.” Shannon smiles a little. “I know.” She takes a deep breath. “But that’s exactly why this,” gestures between them, “isn’t going to work.”

“What?”

“Eddie, you’re in love with him. And he’s in love with you. I don’t know, maybe if we had reconnected sooner… But the way we care about each other isn’t the same as it used to be.”

“That’s not… I’m not… Buck isn’t…”

“Eddie.” She watches his mouth close, brow furrowing in that confused way that used to make her heart skip. Now Shannon just smiles, a little sadness to it. “Don’t be an idiot about this.”

“Shannon…”

“I want you to be happy. And Buck is a good guy. And I’m not saying I don’t want to be in Christopher’s life.”

“Just not in mine.”

“Eddie,” Shannon chides. “There’s really not any room for me in it, anymore. Not the way we're trying to force.”

“That’s not…”

“I had a conversation with Athena Grant,” she interrupts. “Over coffee, a couple of days ago. Did you know her husband left her for another man?” Shannon shrugs. “Well, it was more complicated than that, but… She’s happy with Bobby, and has a good relationship with Michael and even Glen. They make it work.”

“Shannon.”

Oddly enough, her eyes aren’t stinging. Shannon is actually incredibly calm when she leans in to kiss Eddie’s cheek.

“Carla will come and get Christopher later. Make sure he eats.” She smiles. “Be happy, Eddie. You deserve it.”

 

**+i.**

 

Eddie’s skin is buzzing by the time Carla picks up Christopher. Shannon’s words are circling in his head, and he knows that Buck can tell there’s something wrong. He shoots Eddie a quizzical look when he bids Christopher a good night.

“You know I’m fine, right?” Buck says, his voice a little drowsy, rough. “You don’t have to stick around. You should be at home, with your family.” There’s a long pause, as Eddie considers his reply. Before he can say anything, though, Buck is speaking again. There’s a familiar bitter note in his voice. “Shannon seemed kind of upset when she was here.”

“Shannon and I are getting a divorce.” The words come unbidden, and although they hadn’t said it in so many words, Eddie knows they’re true.

Buck is quiet. Then he says, a crack in his voice, “I’m sorry, Eddie. I know you were hoping things would work out.”

“I was,” Eddie agrees. He takes a deep breath. “But it was never going to, because I’m in love with someone else.”

Buck is silent, staring at Eddie. Only the slightest widening of his eyes indicates that he’s heard anything at all. There’s a vulnerability to his expression, and Eddie knows.

Buck has told him, a million times and in a million ways. It’s his turn.

Reaching out, Eddie covers Buck’s hand with his own, mindful of the tubes attached. He smiles.

“I’m in love with you.”

“Eddie--”

“I love you, Evan Buckley. I’m sorry that it took me almost losing you to say it. And if you _ever_ ,” Eddie stresses the word, “ever do something so _maldito_ stupid again without me I will kill you myself.”   

“I won’t.” Buck says it quickly. “Eddie, do you really…”

There are so many ways Buck could end that sentence. He just trails off, searching Eddie’s face. Whatever he finds there causes him to breathe out. The corners of his mouth twitch, up. Curling into a full-fledged grin.

"Huh. Well, how about that."

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed! Comments and kudos are love. <3


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